My interests range fairly widely between philosophy, politics, geography, literature and history. I’m the author of five books and the editor of seven. My most recent book, The Birth of Territory, was published by University of Chicago Press in 2013. My next book is entitled Foucault’s Last Decade and is projected for publication in 2016 with Polity Press. My articles have appeared in journals in a range of disciplines, and some have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Croatian, Russian, Hebrew and Korean.

When I’m not working I enjoy cycling, watching cricket and a range of music.

A list of Frequently Asked Questions and responses is here. Please note that while I welcome comments, they need to be accompanied by a valid email address. Comments using false email addresses, false names, multiple false identities from a single IP address, etc. will not be posted. I’d rather not have to turn comments off, but I will ‘trash’ anything inappropriate. In the Middle has a moderation policy that provides a good justification for the kind of comments I would like to see here.

I’ve known some of your texts, mainly the Focault and Heidegger book, Mapping the present, and have become very interested in your blog. I’m a Brazilian scholar doing my post-phd at University of Paris 7 and I’m very interested in getting information on Foucault’s colloquia and discussions. Hope we can meet personally sometime!

Hi, is there any way for me to reach you? I am a filmmaker in New York and I wrote a screenplay that takes some ideas from Foucault, sort of exploring it from a “what if someone lived his life according to these ideas” starting point.

I would love to be able to establish contact with you, so here is my email –

I’ve had an opportunity to engage some of your works at a very basic Masters level and I must say that I find your writing and articulation of Lefebvre deeply satisfying. When do you think you’d have time to transport some of those ideas to help out budding scholars in Africa and South Africa to be precise, to make sense of the social, physical and capital world we’re experiencing? Particularly from the perspective of Rhythm-analysis.

Thanks Ernestina. I haven’t worked on Lefebvre for some time – the last was when Neil Brenner and I put together the State, Space, World collection and a related essays in 2007-2008. I don’t know what I could do around African questions in relation to his work, but I hope people find his ideas useful – I suspect the analysis of state mode of production and state spatial strategies would be at least as useful as Rhythmanalysis. I don’t know South Africa well – only visited twice – but I am beginning to do some work on Nigeria, and am visiting different parts of the African continent fairly regularly these days.
Stuart

Hello Stuart, I’ve recently begun a photography project online called The Convivial Camera ~ exploring photography as an everyday social practice. https://www.facebook.com/groups/134761096710163/ . I’ve found that you, and other people you’ve connected with through twitter, give me a sense of how I may situate my project and begin to form reflections, perspectives and possible directions. Your blog, writing and tweets have been helpful in giving me some confidence in attempting to do this project online. My background is in photography and education and I’m particularly interested in how the online space (time?) can be (become) an interface between abstract concepts (thinking and reflecting together) and concrete actions (conversations and projects together in public space). I’m still trying to find my feet with this project. Any specific thoughts would be appreciated. But I wrote this mainly to say thanks for being online.

Hi, I’m Lynn from Singapore. I’m turning 19 this year and did my A levels in November 2013. I’m going to Durham university in UK to do BA Geography and I’m so excited about it! Your blog is very relevant to students all over and a great reference and inspiration too.

The system in Singapore(the little red dot) is a pressure cooker. I’m glad to be out of school at the moment. I’ve heard the UK can be very academic too, but I’m a full-blown nerd so that’s fine. Just that when all your schoolmates spend all their time mugging and being math geniuses, the atmosphere just feels toxic. I want to be in a place where I learn Geography because I love it, not because I want to impress people with awesome grades. I have a feeling Durham would be a good place for that. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ll see. I’m looking forward to September.

Your blog is a great reference to so many students, and not just those doing Geography. Everything connects, even if I have to find an abstract sort of linkage. But that’s what I love about this subject. It is everything under the sun, in a nutshell. Thanks again for your very practical and well-run blog!

Thanks Lynn. I think you’ll find Durham a very interesting place, with some great staff and students. I’m no longer there, but my ex-colleagues and friends will give you a warm welcome. Good luck with your studies.